Thursday, April 13, 2006
"There oughta be a law!" But read its fine print first
Oklahoma is considering anti-spyware legislation. This sounds good -- spyware is a huge problem in real life and good laws could help protect the public.
It sounds good, that is, until you get to the fine print. For example, there's some language that sounds like it's supposed to let anti-spyware products erase spyware or report it. But that's not what it says. It's not limited to anti-spyware products and it's not limited to removing spyware. After you click "Accept" to an incomprehensible "license agreement", that software is allowed to search for and erase anything "illegal". That could cause problems given that everything is illegal. The bill has anti-spying provisions but exempts any “telecommunications carrier, cable operator, computer hardware or software provider or provider of information service” (emphasis added).
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It sounds good, that is, until you get to the fine print. For example, there's some language that sounds like it's supposed to let anti-spyware products erase spyware or report it. But that's not what it says. It's not limited to anti-spyware products and it's not limited to removing spyware. After you click "Accept" to an incomprehensible "license agreement", that software is allowed to search for and erase anything "illegal". That could cause problems given that everything is illegal. The bill has anti-spying provisions but exempts any “telecommunications carrier, cable operator, computer hardware or software provider or provider of information service” (emphasis added).
# posted by Frederick @ 9:17 AM Email to a friend:
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